Venom, a new hope in fighting AIDS

By Ed Susman

COPENHAGEN (UPI): Researchers reported Thursday they are investigating snake and scorpion venom as novel medications to combat the worldwide epidemic of AIDS.

The multitude of anti-AIDS approaches, including the animal venoms, says one scientist, "shows the real desperation" to find new drugs and new ways of using old drugs to battle AIDS, especially as the virus becomes resistant to main line therapies.

Several recent studies have shown that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) causes AIDS often becomes resistant to AZT -- the main drug used to prevent development of AIDS.

"The goal is to find a drug which can overcome resistance," said Dr. Lisa Dunkle, executive director of HIV clinical research for Bristol-Myers Squibb in Wallingford, Conn.

Among studies presented at an international AIDS meeting here attended by more than 1,500 researchers from 43 countries were two which showed preliminary effectiveness against HIV, using compounds developed from the venom of snakes and scorpions.

Allen Glanville, president of Zenith Corporation, a health food company in Ogden, Utah, told United Press international that he has worked for more than a decade on testing his compound, Solutein, developed from the venom of three snakes, the deadly Egyptian cobra, moccasin and krait.

In studies conducted under the authority of the Estonian government, Solutein was administered to 6 people with AIDS in Estonia. The study showed the drug was well-tolerated and showed immune system modulating effects, Glanville said.

In the scorpion venom study, researchers found the venom created mutations in HIV which could have useful therapeutic properties, possibly leading to development of a genetically- engineered drug.

"These studies were likely approved for presentation by the organizing committee of the conference in the spirit of scientific inquiry," said Edward King, editor of the London-based monthly newsletter, Aids Treatment Update. "The studies do not necessarily imply endorsement from main stream researchers," he told UPI.

More conservative researchers were skeptical of the venom studies, but they noted that many drugs have originated from animals. Dunkle said there is a willingness among scientists to try any path in fighting AIDS.

"These studies show there is a real desperation to find an answer for this disease," she said.

Dunkle presented data on her company's drug stavudine (d4T), a nucleoside analog recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Her data showed that d4T was significantly superior to AZT in preventing AIDS infections, destruction of the immune system and death.

She said new trials of d4T will test its ability to prevent transmission of Hiv to the babies of infected pregnant women. Recent studies have shown that AZT reduces that risk by about 2/3.

Other drugs which were presented Thursday at the European AIDS Clinical Society's Conference on Clinical Aspects and Treatment of HIV Infection here included:

* Vesnarinone, a drug used for heart failure. Spanish researchers found that in a small pilot study, the drug was well- tolerated by AIDS patients and seemed to have properties which helped stimulate the patients immune system. In none of the 12 patients who completed the course of treatment was disease progression seen.

* Glaxo Wellcome's protease inhibitor 141W94. Brian Sadler, a pharmacokineticist at the company's Research Triangle Park, N.C., facility, said 141W94 was well-tolerated by patients in initial studies to determine toxicity of the formula. Similar compounds in this class of drugs which are moving toward U.S. government approval are produced by Roche, Abbott Laboratories and Bristol- Myers Squibb.

* Pharma Mar's non-nucleoside, Pm92131. Lewis Cameron, coordinator of clinical investigations for the Madrid, Spain, company said the compound stops HIV from making copies of itself. Why the drug does this, Cameron admitted, "we really do not know." Pharma Mar is now using the drug in animal studies.

"These classes of drugs, nucleoside analogies, protease inhibitors and non-nucleosides, are trying to inhibit HIV from replicating itself. We are trying to make the virus impotent," Sadler told UPI.